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I feel conflicted about this. I started learning algebra around grade 6 in Europe, so I think pushing it back to grade 9 is a bit far. But on the other hand, I

by clnq 4y ago

I feel conflicted about this. I started learning algebra around grade 6 in Europe, so I think pushing it back to grade 9 is a bit far. But on the other hand, I was always amazed by how much skipping just a week or two of school a year could impact one’s education. It’s very difficult to catch up (in Central European schools at least). A bout of pneumonia could negatively impact your whole life if you miss a week of school and you don’t have the time or teaching to catch up. Education can be very rushed, maybe it shouldn’t be. Pupils should be given time to catch up when various life events happen to them. And if this means a more spaced out curriculum, so be it.

humanizersequel 4y ago
Does summer vacation exist in Central Europe? In high school (USA) I was tracked into a two year remedial math course following an abysmal performance in pre-calc, so after 1 year of that I spent the summer taking an online course and tested back onto the normal track. The Summer break is often derided as a time when students forget everything, but without it I likely would not have ended up studying mathematics in college.
- viraptor 4y ago
  Yes it exists. (~2 months) It may be the time to forget things, but it's also a time to develop skills not enforced by schools and expand your social environment. There's a balance in everything.
- clnq 4y ago
  Things are very different in Europe and in the US. And even in different countries in Europe, I suspect. Summer vacations exist but opportunities for catching up during them might be limited in public schools. Many don't have remediation learning tracks for students who have fallen behind. Where I was growing up in the 90s, some teachers would stay after work in their classrooms mostly out of the goodness of their hearts and help pupils who fell behind. Not all teachers would do this and sometimes your school wouldn't have a teacher helping kids in a certain discipline, so you would go to your friends' schools if they had that. Sometimes money was involved, which created conflicts of interest. Commercial tutoring schools popped up in the region later that formalized and democratized the process a little bit. The internet was there in the late 90s already, but obviously things like Khan Academy arrived much later. I appreciate that kids these days have more resources and it's not an "every kid for themselves" as it was in my childhood. But I still think it would be best if the tempo at schools was reduced so there's time to catch up. Spaced out learning is more effective in terms of retention anyways. It just takes more time.
cscurmudgeon 4y ago
The issue is preventing kids from taking advanced classes.
abigail95 4y ago
Doesn't this suggest the opposite? You only have 9,10,11,12 grades to learn algebra instead of 6-12? The earlier you start the slower you can go, starting in grade 5-6 is spaced out.
- clnq 4y ago
  We moved on from algebra as a focus quickly. In Central Europe, my high school math courses in grades 11 and 12 were about equivalent to math in a CS BSc in uni in the UK. Formal languages, computing, matrices, and other such things. But you could also finish your high school after grade 10 where I was and not learn any advanced math, or simply choose a lower intensity math course. Regardless, education was rushed in my childhood (90s and 00s) and it was the norm in Europe. I don’t think that was good, it was very stressful and if a kid had to miss school for a few weeks because of a life event, it was very difficult to catch up.

by clnq 4y ago

humanizersequel 4y ago

Does summer vacation exist in Central Europe? In high school (USA) I was tracked into a two year remedial math course following an abysmal performance in pre-calc, so after 1 year of that I spent the summer taking an online course and tested back onto the normal track. The Summer break is often derided as a time when students forget everything, but without it I likely would not have ended up studying mathematics in college.

viraptor 4y ago
Yes it exists. (~2 months) It may be the time to forget things, but it's also a time to develop skills not enforced by schools and expand your social environment. There's a balance in everything.
clnq 4y ago
Things are very different in Europe and in the US. And even in different countries in Europe, I suspect. Summer vacations exist but opportunities for catching up during them might be limited in public schools. Many don't have remediation learning tracks for students who have fallen behind. Where I was growing up in the 90s, some teachers would stay after work in their classrooms mostly out of the goodness of their hearts and help pupils who fell behind. Not all teachers would do this and sometimes your school wouldn't have a teacher helping kids in a certain discipline, so you would go to your friends' schools if they had that. Sometimes money was involved, which created conflicts of interest. Commercial tutoring schools popped up in the region later that formalized and democratized the process a little bit. The internet was there in the late 90s already, but obviously things like Khan Academy arrived much later. I appreciate that kids these days have more resources and it's not an "every kid for themselves" as it was in my childhood. But I still think it would be best if the tempo at schools was reduced so there's time to catch up. Spaced out learning is more effective in terms of retention anyways. It just takes more time.

cscurmudgeon 4y ago

The issue is preventing kids from taking advanced classes.

abigail95 4y ago

Doesn't this suggest the opposite? You only have 9,10,11,12 grades to learn algebra instead of 6-12? The earlier you start the slower you can go, starting in grade 5-6 is spaced out.

clnq 4y ago
We moved on from algebra as a focus quickly. In Central Europe, my high school math courses in grades 11 and 12 were about equivalent to math in a CS BSc in uni in the UK. Formal languages, computing, matrices, and other such things. But you could also finish your high school after grade 10 where I was and not learn any advanced math, or simply choose a lower intensity math course. Regardless, education was rushed in my childhood (90s and 00s) and it was the norm in Europe. I don’t think that was good, it was very stressful and if a kid had to miss school for a few weeks because of a life event, it was very difficult to catch up.